Lose $500 to save $3500

[thastinger]

Not sure about your State but in mine, if it won't pass a state inspection the dealer can't sell it.
I would walk away regardless though, I'm a Ford guy and would never buy anything that needs cylinder heads done unless it was a project vehicle.

 

[atikovi]

Not sure about your State but in mine, if it won't pass a state inspection the dealer can't sell it.

Unless things have changed in VA, it was my understanding that a dealer only has to inspect the car before offering it for sale. That doesn't mean it has to pass inspection. It just has to have the rejection sticker in the windshield showing why it failed.

 

[SC Maintenance]

I'll start by stating the obvious: you should have never signed a purchase agreement until after any inspection was completed and results known. Spilled milk now, however ... I will confess, I'm a bit confused becasue if you've signed the purcahse paperwork, how can you "walk away" and only lose $500? Don't you now formally own the vehicle because you signed the purchase agreement and paid money on the vehicle?

I'm not sure what laws exist in NY regarding the sale of a vehicle unable to pass inspections; check into your State Atty General's Office and find out what the stipulations are, if any. If you want completely out of the deal, you may have to polietly beg, depending upon your legal standing regarding the above. If you want the vehicle fixed, you may have to politely attempt to negotiate some good will from the dealer.

Past that point it's time to lawyer up.

He would need to read his purchase agreement. Any I have signed have a clause regarding taking delivery. The ones here say they keep your deposit and your trade - if you traded one. Its why there so fired up to slap a dealer plate on the new car and send you off in it that day.

And yep, I read the entire agreement, line for line. Drives them nuts. They keep interrupting me to tell me what it says, and I politely tell them that each time they interrupt requires me to start reading over. They figure it out about the third time.

 

[thastinger]

Unless things have changed in VA, it was my understanding that a dealer only has to inspect the car before offering it for sale. That doesn't mean it has to pass inspection. It just has to have the rejection sticker in the windshield showing why it failed.

That is probably correct, was working off the assumption that a rejected vehicle wouldn't be put on the lot and offered for sale, at least by any reputable dealer. Most places in VA are a safety inspection, some cities do emissions, but if it fails for safety it doesn't make sense that it could be sold by a dealer.

 

[DuckRyder]

Assuming they appear to be forthright about what is done to get it to pass and will demonstrate ALL monitors are set, if the truck is otherwise nice and meets your needs (i recall you looked at several or considered several) i would take it with a 3 month warranty. Particularly in NY in December i would think 3 months would be more than enough for a cold start failure to appear.

I don't remember, how many miles are on it?

Some states based on year will pass something without all monitors set, though i think 14 is way too new, but that's why I say all monitors set.

 

[atikovi]

but if it fails for safety it doesn't make sense that it could be sold by a dealer.

If a dealer can sell it for a little more than what it would bring at the auction, and a buyer is looking for a project at a lower price, that's a win win for both parties. Makes perfect sense.

 

[thastinger]

If a dealer can sell it for a little more than what it would bring at the auction, and a buyer is looking for a project at a lower price, that's a win win for both parties. Makes perfect sense.

The dealer who knowingly sells a vehicle with safety equipment defects won't be in business very long, I know several and don't know any who would. Any lawyer would tear that up regardless of whether they are "allowed to" sell it.

 

[avacado11]

Assuming they appear to be forthright about what is done to get it to pass and will demonstrate ALL monitors are set, if the truck is otherwise nice and meets your needs (i recall you looked at several or considered several) i would take it with a 3 month warranty. Particularly in NY in December i would think 3 months would be more than enough for a cold start failure to appear.

I don't remember, how many miles are on it?

Some states based on year will pass something without all monitors set, though i think 14 is way too new, but that's why I say all monitors set.

119k miles at the moment. If I remember right NY state will allow 1 or 2 incomplete monitors as long as they are non critical to emissions. I don’t quite remember which systems are non critical but from my experience if the problem illuminates a CEL it’s probably a critical component.

The 3 month warranty is a saving grace but as we all know sometimes warranty companies are more of a PITA to deal with than just saving the $$ upfront and doing the repair yourself. I’m fairly knowledgeable with cars - have never pulled an engine head to do valves but I’m willing to learn if I had to. Catch here is if I had to. I have zero interest in purchasing a project right now. Infact, my original budget was set ~$12k and upped to $16-17k because you just couldn’t find clean, good condition trucks for that type of money around here. Not expecting 16k to be perfect but I expect it to atleast last a year or two with minimal work. Not a top end rebuild.

I mean I like the truck but it’s not a must-have rig so if I walk I won’t look back.

 

[avacado11]

If a dealer can sell it for a little more than what it would bring at the auction, and a buyer is looking for a project at a lower price, that's a win win for both parties. Makes perfect sense.

In theory yes, but the second you list a car for a low price everybody will flock over trying to buy it under the assumption that it’s turn key. Chances are the person who does has no clue what they’re getting into, and then they come back claiming you sold them a lemon and raise hell even though you clearly stated the defects during purchase. And the courts usually side with the customer unless it’s some outrageous claim.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

The catch is it must be inspected before selling. A car that sits on their lot unsold can sit forever without an inspection lol. Usually dealers will run their diagnostics and know wether or not the vehicle can pass inspection before offering it retail. Not blaming these folks in any way, wether the CEL developed while it was sitting for the past 2 months or they were hoping the CEL would stay off until the sale was completed, but this is why small used car lots get a bad reputation.

They can figure out a way to get it "inspected". I bought my Grand Marquis from a shady dealer. The check engine light came on immediately on the test drive. They said it was a coil and replaced the coil and it came inspected. Pulling out of their lot after paying for it, the light came on.

I don't think I ever drove it more than 500 feet without the CEL coming on due to the misfire. Turns out it had no compression in cylinder 5. No way it would have been able to set all monitors. My guess is they just slapped a sticker on from something else or inspected a random trailer and slapped that in the window. Being a 2001 it would have passed inspection with one open monitor, but it wouldn't set any of them before the CLE would come on.

Be careful you don't end up in the same situation. I'd probably run from this truck!

 

[SC Maintenance]

Have you told them your no longer interested? Do they have anything else on the lot that you might rather have, maybe they will move your deposit.

 

[atikovi]

In theory yes, but the second you list a car for a low price everybody will flock over trying to buy it under the assumption that it’s turn key. Chances are the person who does has no clue what they’re getting into, and then they come back claiming you sold them a lemon and raise hell even though you clearly stated the defects during purchase. And the courts usually side with the customer unless it’s some outrageous claim.

Selling to the 1 in 10 stupid or shady buyer, just goes with the territory of any business that deals with the public. Heck, it happens on private sales as well. As long as everything is in writing, courts decide on that.

The dealer who knowingly sells a vehicle with safety equipment defects won't be in business very long, I know several and don't know any who would. Any lawyer would tear that up regardless of whether they are "allowed to" sell it.

Again, the defects are clearly marked on the rejection sticker as provided by law. No lawyer would even take such a case on some $1000 beater when his fees would be five times as much. Sounds like you prefer a nanny state that protects people from themselves, no matter how dumb they are.

 

[javacontour]

While not optimal, $500 is pretty cheap tuition compared to getting stuck with a truck you no longer trust.

If you don't trust the truck or the dealer, just ask if you can back out, or even get a partial refund of your deposit.

You are unlikely to have faith in this vehicle regardless what happens. That may extend to the dealership itself.

Yeah, we don't want to reward sketchy dealerships, and leaving any money with them can seem wrong.

If they are really sketchy, why would you consider leaving tens of thousands with them to buy a truck you probably will never trust.

If it was my money, I'd probably cut my losses and call it cheap tuition.

 

[mattd]

I certainly would ask for more money off the price if you’re fixing it. I’d take the F150 and fix it if you can get a reasonable amount of money off the price. If they don’t want to bargain, and you really don’t want to invest the money, walk away. Skip the ram completely.

 

[zzyzzx]

I am having trouble understanding why rusty transmission lines are a problem. Yes, I have had it happen and gotten pinhole leaks and I replaced the lines. It was no big deal both times. If new lines were unobtainable (and they probably are used off a vehicle from a junkyard in an area that doesn't salt the roads) then have something custom made or use regular fuel line.

 

[thastinger]

Selling to the 1 in 10 stupid or shady buyer, just goes with the territory of any business that deals with the public. Heck, it happens on private sales as well. As long as everything is in writing, courts decide on that.


Again, the defects are clearly marked on the rejection sticker as provided by law. No lawyer would even take such a case on some $1000 beater when his fees would be five times as much. Sounds like you prefer a nanny state that protects people from themselves, no matter how dumb they are.

Sounds like you don't understand liability law, go to any dealer and ask them if they would sell any vehicle that failed a state safety inspection.

 

[atikovi]

Sounds like you don't understand liability law, go to any dealer and ask them if they would sell any vehicle that failed a state safety inspection.

I know that if the dealer follows the law, of having the vehicle inspected, and any defects are posted on the sticker in the windshield as required by VA statue, a dealer would have no liability when selling a car with a failed a state safety inspection. At least the state legislature had some sense in writing that up. And some people DO want low cost fixer uppers.

 

[Brons2]

I walked away on a new Pulte house recently and lost $5K, don't regret our decision one iota. We were really, really unhappy with the build quality and it was going to cost us more than $5K to remediate the things they were trying to stick us with. They also seemed unable to bring the house to acceptable finish level with the tape and texture, I have pictures if you're really that interested, but suffice it to say it was terrible, despite several go around with walks and prior threats to walk on the house including a prior formal letter to withdrawl. They threw $48K at us in an attempt to make us happy but they still couldn't get the basics right.

Plus the other things that we were unhappy with like no door on the master bedroom water closet (the nearly complete house they showed us before originally signing in May had it!), the bargain basement baseboards, the Home Depot cabinets that touch up paint was not available for and basically brand new doors had to be ordered for the scratches, the ugly tiles in the upstairs bathrooms, plastic tub surround in the secondary upstairs bathrooms, no windows in any of the 2 full baths and 1 powder bath. We were planning on ripping out all the baseboards and all the tile in the upstairs bathrooms, replacing the master vanity, framing out the water closet door...oh and we were also going to open up the stairs....at some point the build quality issues plus the cost of changing all the things we wanted changed to bring it up to our standard was too much.

Likewise, if there is a problem and the vehicle needs a head job it's going to cost you way more than $500 to remediate it. It's not worth it. Walk away while you can. There are other trucks out there that don't have this issue. That is your happy ending, not this truck. (Besides the fact I think you need to fly down here and buy one with zero rust).

Let me tell you about our happy ending. We started shopping around again and found that other builders had lowered their prices significantly since the March-May time frame. We found a house with all the niceties we didn't have in the other house and then some. Bigger house by 300sq ft, nice baseboards, gourmet kitchen, 8 foot doors downstairs, 7 foot door in master shower (I am 6'7"), a Jack and Jill kids bathroom setup upstairs plus a 2nd full bathroom for guests, and so, so, so much more!! The kicker is the lot backs up to a creek running in a deep ravine and the other houses far across the creek, I cannot even see. Plus on the front side is a pocket park, and in back of the pocket park is the edge of the neighborhood. The other neighborhood that we back up to is all big acreage lots, I can only see 1 other house off in the distance! You can't get a better setup in a suburban neighborhood, period!!!!

The cost of all this is $11K LESS than what we originally signed with Pulte with for their craptastic starter home for in May!! PLUS WAIT FOR IT - the new builder had a 3.99% buydown option on a 10 year ARM! We will pay it off in 10 years anyway so it's SO PERFECT.

This is our happy ending and we are so over the moon. Your happy ending is out there and it's a different truck.

 

[avacado11]

They can figure out a way to get it "inspected". I bought my Grand Marquis from a shady dealer. The check engine light came on immediately on the test drive. They said it was a coil and replaced the coil and it came inspected. Pulling out of their lot after paying for it, the light came on.

I don't think I ever drove it more than 500 feet without the CEL coming on due to the misfire. Turns out it had no compression in cylinder 5. No way it would have been able to set all monitors. My guess is they just slapped a sticker on from something else or inspected a random trailer and slapped that in the window. Being a 2001 it would have passed inspection with one open monitor, but it wouldn't set any of them before the CLE would come on.

Be careful you don't end up in the same situation. I'd probably run from this truck!

It wouldn’t be possible to use a random sticker if they were a registered dealer doing a MV50 title transfer. The state requires proof that the vehicle was inspected and passed, which is the print out that comes with the inspection showing vin/mileage.

I mean could it slip thru the cracks? Possibly. But highly illegal as a dealer. The only time you can swap stickers is if it’s a title float but most dealers understand this is highly illegal and will get quite messy if there is any paperwork error.

 

[avacado11]

I walked away on a new Pulte house recently and lost $5K, don't regret our decision one iota. We were really, really unhappy with the build quality and it was going to cost us more than $5K to remediate the things they were trying to stick us with. They also seemed unable to bring the house to acceptable finish level with the tape and texture, I have pictures if you're really that interested, but suffice it to say it was terrible, despite several go around with walks and prior threats to walk on the house including a prior formal letter to withdrawl. They threw $48K at us in an attempt to make us happy but they still couldn't get the basics right.

Plus the other things that we were unhappy with like no door on the master bedroom water closet (the nearly complete house they showed us before originally signing in May had it!), the bargain basement baseboards, the Home Depot cabinets that touch up paint was not available for and basically brand new doors had to be ordered for the scratches, the ugly tiles in the upstairs bathrooms, plastic tub surround in the secondary upstairs bathrooms, no windows in any of the 2 full baths and 1 powder bath. We were planning on ripping out all the baseboards and all the tile in the upstairs bathrooms, replacing the master vanity, framing out the water closet door...oh and we were also going to open up the stairs....at some point the build quality issues plus the cost of changing all the things we wanted changed to bring it up to our standard was too much.

Likewise, if there is a problem and the vehicle needs a head job it's going to cost you way more than $500 to remediate it. It's not worth it. Walk away while you can. There are other trucks out there that don't have this issue. That is your happy ending, not this truck. (Besides the fact I think you need to fly down here and buy one with zero rust).

Let me tell you about our happy ending. We started shopping around again and found that other builders had lowered their prices significantly since the March-May time frame. We found a house with all the niceties we didn't have in the other house and then some. Bigger house by 300sq ft, nice baseboards, gourmet kitchen, 8 foot doors downstairs, 7 foot door in master shower (I am 6'7"), a Jack and Jill kids bathroom setup upstairs plus a 2nd full bathroom for guests, and so, so, so much more!! The kicker is the lot backs up to a creek running in a deep ravine and the other houses far across the creek, I cannot even see. Plus on the front side is a pocket park, and in back of the pocket park is the edge of the neighborhood. The other neighborhood that we back up to is all big acreage lots, I can only see 1 other house off in the distance! You can't get a better setup in a suburban neighborhood, period!!!!

The cost of all this is $11K LESS than what we originally signed with Pulte with for their craptastic starter home for in May!! PLUS WAIT FOR IT - the new builder had a 3.99% buydown option on a 10 year ARM! We will pay it off in 10 years anyway so it's SO PERFECT.

This is our happy ending and we are so over the moon. Your happy ending is out there and it's a different truck.

See that’s my mentality right now. $500 isn’t the highest amount I have walked away from due to a bad deal. I see it as a learning experience. But I’m not sure if I’m pulling the plug too early at this point, or even pulling the plug for no reason. I mean sub $20k trucks are gonna have some sort of issue regardless what brand. They aren’t brand new, and I’m not expecting brand new either.